WATCH: Police Dog Service Training Centre holds official opening of expanded agility field

On June 13th, members of the public headed out to the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre to take in the official opening of the expanded agility field along with the viewing of a canine demonstration.

Many special guests were in attendance from across the country.

Staff Sergeant Gary Creed, acting officer in charge of the Police Dog Service Training Centre said the purchase of the 22-acre land in 2016 allowed them to re-locate their agility field, which ran its course in life span.

“They’ve used the composite materials to build the new obstacles on it, the new tower has some new components to it that we can use to train the dogs. There’s actually tunnels in the new tower and things like that,” said Creed.

He added that the other part of the new land is used for their human remains detection, with a majority also used to exercise their brood dogs onsite.

“All of the RCMP police dogs are born onsite here,” he said, adding that they are able to have better facilities for their brood dogs to be housed onsite.

Creed said the human remains detection portion needs a lot of land to train the dogs, but they also want it to be fairly secure.

“By having the extra land it allows us to bury hides, to have different components. We’re building a rubble pile for an urban type search area. The extra space allows us for growth going forward.”

With many visitors coming out from across the world, Creed said it’s important to have a good facility.

“For us to be able to have world class facilities – it’s important to us.”

There are around 175 working RCMP dog teams in Canada that all get trained at the Police Dog Service Training Centre. On average, they train around 30 dogs a year, with anywhere from six to eight new handlers.

A second ceremony also took place at the Canadian Police Canine Association Monument, located in the Memorial Garden onsite. The Calgary Police Service Canine Unit added the name of a fallen canine member to the Memorial Monument.

Public dog demonstrations run every Wednesday afternoon between Victoria Day and Labour Day, beginning at 2 p.m.